Out
by alwaysnathanhaley
Summary: It's Brooke and Lucas' wedding day...


_Out_

Brooke sat back down in her seat, Victoria right beside her. They were flying back from Paris for Fashion Week. Victoria and Brooke made one last afford to appear cordial for Fashion Week considering their partnership quietly ended three months prior.

"You have one more day, then our make believe mother-daughter relationship will be over."

"I have more problems on my mind then having to sit next to you, even in first class."

"Look, the disaster in Fashion Week was not our fault, the lighting…"

"Victoria, seriously, it's nothing about Fashion Week. I can't believe you're still talking about it as a disaster. You had practically every reporter at the event kissing your ass and praising you for my company and my designs."

"You gave the company over to me…"

"Yeah, but the fact that you just out right and practically said you came up with the designs and even sewed the together was clearly immoral."

"If I said they were yours, there would have been this big publicity about when the next designs were coming out. And since you are not with the company anymore it is not right to promote it as yours when after this line, it won't be yours anymore."

"And you'll be flat broke once everyone sees my new line."

"Like you could ever compete with me."

"With you, ha! Competing with you would be like stealing someone's designs and putting my name on them. Those are my designs. I might as well just say I'm competing with myself since Clothes over Bros was mine."

"You gave it away."

"Because if I still had the company you would find every way to control me, just like you did the second you signed the contract. You told me who to hire, who to fire, who to date, to be friends with…mother, I was a robotic you."

"Well…I'm sorry for giving you the most successful company in the world and putting you in the record books for being the youngest in fashion design to do so in so few years. You have first class everything, and that's my fault."

"You made everything about you. The labels, the partnerships, I was just the one who came up with the clothes. You took everything else."

"You mean I took care of everything else. When you asked me to help you, I basically knew I would have to take over. I knew you had no knowledge how to run a company. You barely knew how to run your life."

Brooke sat there, almost in tears. "I don't know why I thought us sitting together; even on the same flight would be a good idea. I'd have to go to Mars and it still wouldn't be far enough." The seat belt light signaled on, the flight was landing soon. "I guess he heard my prayers."

Lucas walked into the fitting area as Nathan was putting his tuxedo jacket on.

"You look sharp little brother, almost as good as me."

"You know, I've already gotten married…it's time for you to be the sucker everyone talks about for the next week."

Lucas turned around. "A week?"

"Maybe it was a week for me since me and Haley's second wedding ended with Cooper and Rachel almost dying and you diving into save me."

"The first wedding didn't go without consequence too. Dan had a heart attack."

"And yet I feel more sympathy for Cooper."

"So, is our uncle coming, I haven't heard from him."

A man came around the corner starting to laugh. "So my nephews really are doing this."

"Cooper! Never a dull moment." Lucas turned to hug him.

"You look sharp, Luke…I might actually want to marry you."

"Sorry Coop, already taken."

"And where is the future wife?"

"On her way back from Paris with her mom."

"Pre vacation before the honeymoon?"

"Nope. Brooke owns Clothes over Bros…used to, she signed it to Victoria but they went and did some Fashion Week together and now they're coming back."

"Just saying 'it's a long story' would have been a lot better." Cooper looked at Nathan. "Trouble getting the tuxedo on, Nate? Haven't you done this enough to be a pro?"

"Ha, funny. Brooke got the measurements wrong so I'm trying to get this to fit right." Cooper stood behind his nephew trying to stretch the tuxedo a bit…everything started to fit right. "How'd you do that?"

"Little trick, velvet stretches."

"Now the pants are too big." Nathan looked at himself in the mirror.

"Just see your wife and they'll fit just fine." Nathan gave him a look. "I saw her and yeah, she's hot."

Lucas made a face. "That's my sister-in-law you're talking about Cooper."

"Nate, speaking of sisters, where is mine, also called your mom."

"It's a long story."

"Thanks nephew, that is a way to tell a story that I probably don't want to know about."

Nathan and Lucas chimed in together. "You don't."

All three men heard little feet coming around the corner. "Daddy, momma wants to know how long you're gonna be."

Cooper knelt down to him. "So which one of these knuckleheads is responsible for you?"

"I don't know you."

"That makes two of us."

Nathan scooped up Jamie in his arms. "Cooper, this is my son, Jamie."

"Of course he is…looks like you Nate." He looked at Jamie. "Sorry for that."

Jamie grinned. "Daddy says I look like my Momma, and he says she is pretty all the time."

"He's a smart man."

"Jamie, tell Momma that we'll be done in a half hour."

"Good, because she promised we go eat after this, I'm starving."

"But I cooked breakfast this morning; you said you were full."

"Well, I'm hungry…" He gave a cute grin and Nathan let him down.

Cooper laughed. "You cook?"

"Yeah…"

"And he's alive."

"Coop!"

"I'm gonna go change out of my monkey suit." He took a stand beside Lucas. "Congrats Luke, you deserve it."

"Thanks Coop…see you tomorrow."

"Wouldn't miss it."

_The Big Day_

Peyton opened up the door to Haley at Brooke's house.

"Brooke isn't up yet? I just picked her dress up from the store."

"She's on the phone with Victoria; I'm surprised you couldn't hear the shouting."

"Wait, I thought after they landed in Tree Hill Victoria was flying to New York?"

"She is, unfortunately the flight is delayed."

"Doesn't Victoria know its Brooke's wedding day, the last thing she needs is stress."

Peyton laughed. "Victoria doesn't even know Brooke is even involved with Lucas. In Brooke's opinion, the less Victoria knows the better."

"I guess."

Brooke came storming into the living room from outside.

"I could just kill her. Hunt her down and rip all her hair out!"

Peyton stood in front of her. "Breathe….it's your wedding day, to Lucas Scott…breathe…soon-to-be Mrs. Lucas Scott."

Brooke did the slow breathing as Peyton said. "Thank you." She squealed. "Haley!"

"I got the dress, and we have a couple of hours to get you ready….wedding girl."

"I am so excited, finally!'

Brooke sat in the chair as Peyton plugged in the curling iron. "So, this is where we gossip about the boys in our lives and how smart they are for having us in their lives."

"The day I married Nathan, I knew everything would be okay. The second time."

"What about the first time?"

"I knew I loved Nathan, I knew I wanted him to be my husband. But I was still scared. We were only juniors in high school. I mean I had a marriage license but I couldn't put a vote to decide the next president."

"Did you ever have doubts, even on tour with _him_?"

"With Chris, yeah, I had doubts. I was performing every night, it wasn't my music, but I made it my own. And the crowd, they loved it. I loved every minute of it."

"When did you finally decide to come home?"

"Chris did a cover of _missing you_ one night and he had the house lights turned on, everyone was so into the performance, even I was. I was completely crying. I knew at that moment that none of it mattered without having Nathan. I realize at that moment he was hurting and I had no right to make him believe that I was giving up. When he came to visit me, he realized I wasn't' wearing my ring and that just broke his heart. I never thought that the thing I loved would completely break the person I love."

"But it wasn't exactly roses when you got back; I remember Nathan would walk around the halls of Tree Hill just to avoid talking to you."

"He did?"

"He says that he had to talk to a teacher, but Nathan never talked to a teacher, he made excuses that Whitey would make him do extra running if he was late. It worked, even when it wasn't basketball season."

Haley looked at Brooke who looked like a glass figure. "Brooke..." Haley snapped her fingers.

She perked up. "Hi…did I space out?"

"Yeah, are you okay?"

"Just peachy, it's my wedding day!"

Haley and Peyton gave each other a look; she stopped curing Brooke's hair. "If there is any doubts about Lucas…tell us, we are your best friends and we will protect you."

"I'm fine, I'm good. I've waited for this day since high school."

Haley grabbed the makeup bag. "It's time get a look down to really make Lucas know why he proposed."

Lucas was in the groom area of the church, standing in the mirror for the last time before going to the altar. He heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

She appeared around the door and he couldn't have been happier.

"Mom! I thought you couldn't get a flight out."

"And miss my son getting married, no way. You're my baby boy!"

"I'm almost over twenty-five."

"Twenty-give, thirty-five or forty-five, I still changed your diaper."

"Thanks, nice visual."

"Where is Nathan, I thought I'd get to see him before the ceremony."

"He's helping Jamie with walking down the aisle as the ring bearer."

"And the bride to be."

"I'm hoping she's with Peyton and Haley reciting her vows like I was a minute ago."

"You, getting married, it's so fast. I still remember the day you wouldn't hold my hand when going to first grade because you were a too old. Now you're going to be having your own children."

"Mom, she's not pregnant."

"I know, but down the road…"

"I know…" He hugged Karen. "I missed you ma."

"I missed you too. So…I know you have a few more things to do…I'm going to go join Andy and Lily. I expect a dance from you, married or not."

"I'd like that."

Brooke was looking at her own handiwork of the gown, it was perfect. Very much what Cinderella would've worn if she were getting married today? The design was flawless; she just wished the girl in the dress was the same.

A little knock sounded at the door. "It's Lily."

"Come on in!"

Brooke sat down on the mini stool when Lily came in. "Lucas wanted me to check on you, you look pretty."

"Thank you, so do you. In ten years, hopefully more than ten years, you'll be marrying a great man too."

Lily looked at Brooke. "Mommy says crying means you're happy at weddings."

"I'm not crying though."

"Oh, my mistake. I'm gonna go tell Lucas…see you later." Lily ran off.

Brooke stood up and looked at herself closely in the miniature mirror on the chest.

"A Bride should not look like this. I am no Bride."

Nathan knocked and stuck his head in. "Is it safe?"

She waved him in. "Come on in."

"You ready? I know I'm not your father…I'm honored that you asked me to give you away."

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't give me away."

"What do you mean, is there someone else…"

"All day long I've been finding ways to think about how I can make this marriage work. And I can't."

"Brooke, what's going on, you're not making any sense."

"I can't marry him, Nate, I can't. I know this is possibly the worst time to say anything, but I thought I could let it go, I can't. Apart of me dies when I think of being his wife, I can't do it."

"I probably want to get…are you okay, do you need…"

"I need to talk to Lucas…I know he's already out there waiting for me to walk down the aisle, but I need to see him."

"Yeah, whatever you need."

A few moments later Lucas knocked on the door. "Brooke, are you okay?!"

"You can come in; I don't think the bad luck of seeing me in my dress will make a difference."

Lucas walked in, opening his eyes. "You look beautiful."

She stood up, crying. "Every time I look in that mirror, all I see is a fraud."

"What?"

"I'm not the one you want to marry, I never was. I thought these feelings would go away, but every time I think of being married to a man, I just fall to pieces, I die inside."

"Being married to me…or any man?"

"Rachel didn't leave because of Victoria…she left because I wasn't ready to be 'out'. It was either out in the open or not at all."

Lucas took a step back. "So you choose now to tell me that you're…."

"Gay; yeah." Brooke wiped the tears away. "You can hate me forever; I deserve it for doing this to you. But I can't live a lie after taking your last name. You deserve a girl who will want to love you for you….wants to make love to you and wants you to hold her in your arms and never let go. I'm not that girl."

"So you never planned on telling me, just the feels were to strong?"

"The way you looked at me, it broke my heart. I knew that telling you would break your heart!"

"So you choose to tell me on our wedding day? Did you think to tell me last week when we promised we'd be together forever?"

Brooke was crying too hard to speak clearly. "You have no idea what I have gone through today. I could've just let you believe that I was in love with you and had kids and never really feel anything! Do you know what it's like to lie there, with you, in bed, and not feel anything? It hurts more than you hurt right now."

Cooper slowly opened the door. "I heard shouting…everything okay?"

Lucas took a deep breath. "The wedding's off." He stormed out of the room and out the back of the church.

Cooper closed the door behind him, walking towards Brooke, she backed away. "Don't come near me, just leave….just tell everyone the wedding is off…that…it doesn't matter. Tell them whatever you want."  
"Brooke, you can barely breathe you're crying so hard, let me help you."

"If you want to help me, just let me leave…tell everyone the wedding is off."

Lucas was sitting on the back of the car, Nathan walked over.

"I saw everyone leave."

"No one knows the real reason, so it's up to you and Brooke if you want to tell anyone."

"So she told you?"

"In some ways, yeah."

"Kind of ruined the day, didn't it."

"There's still that honeymoon trip to London. You could give it to Karen and Andy or you could go on it yourself."

"And be reminded that I do not have a Mrs. Scott." Lucas reached into his pocket and grabbed the tickets. "But you do."

"You're giving the honeymoon package to me?"

"You and Haley. You never had a honeymoon and Jamie did mention he would like to have a little brother."

They both laughed. "Thanks Luke. Look, all of this…"

"I still love her…not as a wife, but I still care about her."

"You're a good man, Luke." Lucas got in the car and drove off.

Haley rushed over to Nathan. "I wanted to say goodbye."

"He wants us to take the honeymoon; Jamie hinted he wants a brother."

"Luke's a little late."

"What do you mean?"

"I found out this morning, I'm pregnant."


End file.
